WWUTT 1552 The Rock that Followed Them Was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4-5)

The Israelites saw some amazing things in the wilderness, and yet they themselves were not able to resist temptation.

They gave in at every turn. We must not be as full of ourselves as they were when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We pick up where we left off yesterday in 1

Corinthians chapter 10, if you want to open up your Bible there. And as with yesterday,

I'll begin by reading the first 14 verses out of the Legacy Standard Bible. This is the

Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea.

And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.

For they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them

God was not well pleased. For they were struck down in the wilderness.

Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.

Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play.

Nor let us act in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty -three thousand fell in one day.

Nor let us put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.

Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have arrived.

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed, that he does not fall.

No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man.

But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. And again, as mentioned yesterday, that brings us back even to chapter 8, where Paul had started this section by saying, concerning those things that are sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no

God but one. But as Paul is pointing out here in chapter 10, don't even put yourself in a position to be tempted into idolatry, lest you fall, which happened to our forefathers, those who were wandering in the wilderness.

They did not keep themselves pure, but gave in to temptation and perished.

Many of them died there in the wilderness, did not receive the things promised. And so Paul uses them as an example to us, that we not think more highly of ourselves than we should, but we continue to cling to Christ and not let ourselves be tempted to idolatry.

Beginning in verse 1 again, I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea.

And this is linking those previous instructions. Chapter 8, regarding food that has been sacrificed to idols.

Chapter 9, where Paul defended his authority, his rights as an apostle.

Yeah, he has a right to do many of the things that the Corinthians are arguing for, but he gave them up so that, for a couple of reasons, one, that he could win others to Christ.

He did so for the sake of the gospel. And number two, that he would not fall into temptation. And that's really where he argues from at the end of chapter 9, verse 27,

I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others,

I myself will not be disqualified. He's not a slave to anyone or to anything.

He makes himself a slave to Christ and makes his body his slave so that he wouldn't be tempted, so that he wouldn't be unqualified, that he continues to be one who models holiness and uprightness as we should all desire and seek after as followers of the

Lord Christ. We should never think of sin as just some kind of light thing, right?

Because Adam disobeyed God and all of the universe was sent into upheaval because of the one who was made in the image of God having disobeyed

God and gone his own way instead. All of the chaos, everything that we see in the corrupt world around us, all of this futility that creation has been subjected to, this is the result of man's sin.

So we shouldn't shrug at it. None of us who are under the grace of Christ should go back to looking at sin and thinking like, you know, no big deal.

I can just kind of do this and it and, you know, God will forgive me because he forgave me for all those sins of the past.

He's going to forgive me even for the ones I do in the present. Now there is something to rejoice in God for that.

He does not hold our sins against us, even the ones that we commit in the present. Amen to God.

But we should not let that be an excuse to do whatever it is that we want. We must go after holiness.

We must be pure, even in our thinking. Do not be a slave even to your own sinful thoughts, but take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ as as Paul says to the

Corinthians. And we even have it said to us in Colossians three, five, put to death whatever is earthly in you.

And then the first examples that Paul gives are even the things that we think. May we have thoughts that are completely submitted unto

Christ, never looking for ways that we can we can still have some of those titillating sins, right, those things that our flesh craves, we can still do a little bit of that, can't we know?

Paul is going to say, as we go on here in chapter 10, you cannot dine at the table of demons and at the table of the

Lord, you must be all in on Christ or you're not in the kingdom of God at all.

That's something that Paul had said earlier regarding those who are immoral in First Corinthians chapter six, the immoral, the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So we must desire righteousness. Keep yourself even from going away where you could potentially be tempted.

Don't even go that way, Paul says. And then uses again the

Israelites as an example. Our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea.

They saw the miracles that God did in their midst to free them from slavery and captivity in Egypt.

You understand that's that's what Paul is painting for the Corinthians here. How many of our fathers were there and saw the signs through the plagues that came upon the

Egyptians and they were even told to remember what they had seen and teach it to their children.

They saw that there was a cloud that came down and separated them from the Egyptians when the

Egyptians were pursuing them and were going to destroy them. There was a cloud, God coming down between them and separating them so that he was protecting the

Israelites from the advancement of the Egyptian armies. And then while that cloud was there, the

Red Sea parted so that the Israelites might pass through on dry land, escaping from the

Egyptians who were wanting to enslave them again. They all got to the other side. They pass through.

Paul says here it was even a baptism. They were baptized into Moses passing through the sea in the cloud and in the sea.

They get to the other side. The Egyptians are released to pursue them like the cloud is not stopping them anymore.

The Egyptians go through the sea, but God does this so that he can destroy them. He allows them to pursue the

Israelites so that the Egyptians could be destroyed. And as they're going through the Red Sea, the power of God that was parting the waters, he let the waters go and they crashed in on the

Egyptians and wiped them all out, destroying the Egyptian armies that were pursuing them.

The Israelites witnessed all of this. They praised God for this. You have the song of Moses and Mariam leading the dances as well, following the destruction of their enemies in the sea.

They go into the wilderness. They're fed with manna. They're fed with quail. They see other signs and wonders.

They hear the voice of God from Mount Sinai who gives them the Ten Commandments. They see through the instruction of God, the tabernacle being built and God coming down and dwelling among them there in the tabernacle that God went with them through the ark.

God gave their enemies over to their hands. And when the Israelites would grumble and complain and God sent plagues or serpents among them or whatever else, you know,

Paul mentions the serpents here in whatever ways he would afflict them because of their disobedience against God.

And then would deliver them after they had been punished. Yet the Israelites still didn't get it.

They still did not understand. They continue to fall into temptation and rebellion against God. That's where Paul's going with this.

Like the Israelites saw it. And even though they saw with their eyes miracles that you

Corinthians will not ever see. Indeed, the Corinthians witnessed miracles, Paul says that, that the signs of apostleship had been performed among them.

Second Corinthians 12, 12. So they saw miraculous signs knowing that Paul was speaking something that was not of man but was of God.

It was supernatural. It was divinely given. And Paul authenticated that this message came from God by performing miraculous signs among them.

So indeed, the Corinthians had witnessed some incredible things, but nothing like the plagues of Egypt or the

Red Sea parting or God's presence on Mount Sinai or any of those other things. The Israelites saw greater signs than even what the apostles performed and they still fell into temptation.

So though they had seen these things, they still were not strong enough to resist the temptation. Even the idol worship, because they worshiped a calf at the, they worshiped the golden calf at the base of Mount Sinai.

Moses is up on the mountain getting the law of God. The Israelites are down below having just heard

God's voice from the mountain and yet they turn around and worship a golden calf. They could not keep themselves from idolatry.

So don't think of yourself too highly to think you won't worship idols. Yeah, surely you're not going to worship idols, right?

I can eat meat that's been sacrificed to an idol and I'm not at risk of doing anything bad.

It doesn't defile me. Even Paul acknowledged eating the food doesn't make me unclean so I can enjoy this.

And what harm is there in that? Paul is going to warn the Corinthians here, don't even put yourself in that position to be tempted.

And we're going to find some practical application even for today in that for us as believers, not putting ourselves in positions to be tempted.

We think that we'll be able to resist and then come to find we were a lot weaker in our flesh than we thought.

So Paul goes on verse two, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food.

Verse three, they all drank the same spiritual drink for they were drinking from a spiritual rock, which followed them.

And the rock was Christ. Now, this has to be something spiritual that Paul is talking about because rocks don't follow you.

Rocks are are pretty stable things. They don't tend to go anywhere. And over and over throughout even the

Old Testament, we have references to God being a stable rock. Deuteronomy 32 for the rock, his work is perfect for all his ways are justice, a

God of faithfulness and without iniquity. Just and upright is he.

Psalm 18 beginning in verse one. I love you. Oh, Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my

God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. And I am saved from my enemies.

So we see even here throughout the Old Testament, this references or these references to God being a rock.

And then Jesus, right at the beginning of his earthly ministry, even refers to himself as a rock.

He said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, chapter seven, that if anyone hears these words of mine and does them, he'll be like a wise man who built his house on the what?

He'll be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And when the storms came and the winds blew and beat upon that house, it stood solid because it had a firm foundation and Christ is that firm foundation that was directly a reference to himself as Christ was giving that small little parable there.

But then he said the foolish man builds his house on sand. And then when the storms come and the wind blows and beat against that house, it doesn't stand.

It falls and great will be the fall of it. This is the person who does not hear the word of Christ and does not do what he says.

Christ is pointing out there. He is the rock that is referenced in the Old Testament. He's the rock who is with Israel in the wilderness.

He is the rock who is my strength, whose ways are justice. Jesus is that rock.

This is something a very tangible thing, a very real thing that we recognize is strong and solid and cannot be moved.

You can build buildings upon it and those buildings will not be moved. That's what we think of as a about rocks.

And Christ is the rock. And even referenced here and all those things, the

Israelites saw and witnessed, they receive water from in the wilderness. It wasn't really a rock. It was

Christ. This tangible earthly thing had been shown to them that they might look not to the rocks, but to the rock to Jesus Christ, our

Lord. The drink that they drink while they were the drink that they drank.

Yeah, the drink that they drank while they were in the wilderness, they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them.

And the rock was Christ. Now, even in the Exodus story of the children of Israel being released from slavery and being in the wilderness, it begins and ends with a rock.

In Exodus chapter 17, this is right after the

Israelites or yeah, the Israelites have been spared the wrath of the Egyptians who have been wiped out in the

Red Sea. All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages sin being the name of that wilderness, not necessarily disobeying

God, not that kind of sin. So they they moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages, according to the commandment of the

Lord and camped at Rephidim. But there was no water for the people to drink.

Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, give us water to drink. And Moses said to them, why do you quarrel with me?

Why do you test the Lord? Well, that sounds familiar, right? I mean,

Paul is even going to say to the Corinthians here not to put the Lord to the test. Why do you test the

Lord, Moses says. But the people thirsted there for water and the people grumbled against Moses and said, why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?

At least we could have died with our bellies full in our thirst quench in Egypt. You bring us out of the wilderness to die of thirst.

Moses says to them not to test the Lord, their God, putting God to the test. Instead, the people should trust.

God delivered us from slavery. He delivered us from the powerful Egyptian armies.

He delivered us through the Red Sea. Surely God will deliver us from thirst. Surely God can give us water in the wilderness.

That's how the Israelites should have thought. But instead, they tested God. Grumbling against God is testing the

Lord. God's response could have been to wipe them out, and he would have been completely just in doing so. So Moses warns them, don't put

God to the test. Verse four, Moses cried to the Lord. Now he's he's going to be turning with the same kind of grumbling spirit as the

Israelites have. What shall I do with these people? Moses says they are almost ready to stone me.

Even Moses is not trusting God here in this moment that God will provide. That's the warning he gives to the

Israelites at first. But as they continue to grumble, then Moses starts to grumble as well. And the

Lord said to Moses, verse five, the Lord was merciful to the people of Israel and was merciful to Moses.

Also, he says to Moses, pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel and taking your hand, the staff with which you struck the

Nile and turned it into blood, right? And go behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb.

God will stand there. The Lord will stand there before you,

Moses and the people of Israel on the rock at Horeb and you shall strike the rock and water shall come out of it and the people will drink.

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel, and he called the name of the place

Massa and Meribah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel and because they tested the

Lord by saying, is the Lord among us or not? So this is the rock at Meribah.

This is where their journey starts and where it ends. And I'm going to I'm going to talk about it ending there at Meribah tomorrow.

But first of all, let's let's consider the journey starting or their time in the wilderness there at Meribah.

First thing that the people of Israel get after they pass through the Red Sea is bread from heaven or they get they get bitter water made sweet.

So they receive water from God. That's first. Then they receive food from God. That's in Exodus 16.

God has even provided for them manna from heaven, and yet they continue to grumble that they do not have water. And so God, though he could have wiped them out, this grumbling, foolish people not trusting in the miracles that they've seen

God perform before their very eyes. Yet he stands before them on the rock at Horeb and Moses will strike the rock and water will come out of it and the people will drink.

God is there at the rock. He's with them at the beginning of this journey. He is with them at the end.

They were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them and the rock was Christ.

So here he is at the start and here he will be also at the finish as we come back to this again tomorrow.

The rock is Christ. Christ is with them in the wilderness. And so, therefore, we can know that the

Lord who is speaking here to Moses in Exodus 17, it's specifically Jesus, the son, the second person of the

Trinity. He's not yet known by that name because he's not become incarnate Jesus Christ, but it is the son of God who is speaking with Moses there in the wilderness.

And according to what Paul teaches us here in 1 Corinthians 10, it is Jesus Christ who is with Israel and it is

Jesus Christ whom they would deny, whom they would reject, whom they would rebel against.

This happened even before Christ became incarnate. They were rebelling against him even in the wilderness.

They drank from a spiritual rock which followed them. The rock was Christ. Nevertheless, Paul says in verse 5, with most of them,

God was not pleased for they were struck down in the wilderness. And these things happened as examples for us so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.

And we'll come back to that again tomorrow. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would give us a spirit that desires

Christ, a spirit that desires holiness, Christ -likeness, godliness, that we would grow in these things.

And let us not be looking for ways in our mind and in our heart that we can have worldly things. Can I still have these things that will satisfy my flesh?

May we not even be about the things of the flesh. Help us to be about the things of Christ. We turn from these worldly things.

We desire godliness, putting off whatever we have to put off that we may put on holiness and lead us in your ways that we may walk in a manner that is worthy of God.

Even as we walk in this wilderness, that is this world, exiles here in this world, may we walk faithfully unto the

Lord, not putting the Lord our God to the test, but obeying what you have given to us in Christ Jesus until the day of Christ.